Newbie brewer batch size issue

[Beer Barron]

I’m new to brewing and wanted to make smaller 10-15l batches of beer, to allow me to brew more often and try different recipes. However I am now finding that ordering all the ingredients separately is quite an expensive way of doing things mainly due to the yeast an hops.


Does anywhere sell smaller recipe kits? (10 – 15l size)

Do other people find this issue and have any solutions?

Am I an ***** for investing in a smaller system :-) (Bulldog sparger 18l)

Any advice gratefully received

 

[rank_frank]

Hi,

small batches are great for exactly the reasons you mention. Unfortunately, the cost of ingredients only gets cheaper if you buy a larger amount of them. Hops are cheaper in 100g sealed packets but you probably don't want to use 100g in a single beer, even if you were making 25 litres. So you will want to store the leftover hops for future use. The best way is to vacuum seal them and freeze them but I've had good results using sealable kilner jars in a cupboard away from the light.

As for yeast your only option is to either make a larger starter and keep some back for future brews, storing it in the fridge or harvest some yeast from the ongoing brew and store this.

There are a few smaller all grain kits around. Beerhawk sell some 18.9 litre kits from the US https://www.beerhawk.co.uk/browse-homebrew/recipe-kits . I'm sure there are others too.

One thing to note is that most kits sold assume that you'll get 75% brew house efficiency. I use a Grainfather and get 63% most times. I've made a few of the kits sold by BrewUK and I make these up to 19 litres instead of 23, my reduced efficiency compensating for the reduction in volume. You may find something similar.

 

[MyQul]

I make 12L brews at a time and as rank frank says buying in bulk is the cheapest option, so heres what I do;

Base malt - I bought my last 10kg of base malt 7 months ago. I put it in zip lock bags (the large size you get from the supermarket. They hold about 1.7kg filled) filled to the top so their is no air in them. The malt easily lasted the 7 months and smelled/tasted as fresh as when I first bought it. I have just ordered a 25kg bag of crushed and will put it in more zip lock bags. I expect it to last as long as it takes for me to use it.

Specialist malt - I usually buy 1kg-2kg of each specialist malt I want (choccy, crystal etc) at the same time as the base malt. I buy this uncrushed. Because its uncrushed it lasts a really long time so it doesnt go to waste. I have a £20 knock off corona mill which I got off ebay to crush this malt with

Hops - I buy them from crossmyloof (on ebay) as there's no postage cost. I just keep them in the freezer. They seem to last until I've used them up but I try not to have loads of half opened bags. I only have 2 bags open at a time max

Yeast - I only ever buy dry yeast. If I want a liquid type yeast I culture it up from a bottle of bottle conditioned beer. I usually overbuild my starters i.e. I make a 1.3L starter. Then when it's finished pour 250ml into a little pop bottle - you can get 250ml lemonade bottles in packs of 12 from the supermarker (cheers @Slid for this tip). Then when I want to make another starter I put this into 300ml (if its been in the fridge for a long time. I dont bother with this step if it hasnt been in the fridge that long) then step up to another 1.3L and do the whole process again

 

[Beer Barron]

Thanks for the tips, i'll definitely look at using them.

So much to think about :-)

 

[Cwrw666]

You will be amazed at how quickly you get through a 25kg bag of pale malt. Or maybe that's just me!
Because of delivery charges what I do is make a list of what beers I want to brew and order a 25kg of pale malt plus all the speciality malts I'll need plus hops and yeast etc. Usually that all comes in under 1 delivery charge.
Obviously, because I've been brewing for a while I already have a load of stuff in stock so before ordering I do a stock take and work out what I need to order afterwards.
You inevitably end up with loads of part used bags of hops - take them into account of what brews you plan, or just use them up by substituting them into recipes. This can be quite interesting.
Just remember, beer is just hops and malt in an infinite variety of combinations.

Actually, I'm at the moment in the middle of a brew - an IPA using my own-grown cascade hops. Needless to say I'm as pissed as a fart.

 

[braziliain]

I brew 12L batches and usually order custom recipe kits from Malt Miller. It's expensive if you order one recipe at a time due to postage but I tend to plan for 3 brews and order in one go. You specify exactly what you want down to the gram and they weigh it and pack it.

This also means you don't have to stash leftovers all over the house, which keeps my missus happy .

 

[Beer Barron]

I'm just round the corner from the malt miller, so can avoid postage. Do they weigh the hops out or do you have to get 100g at a time?

 

[braziliain]

Yep, they weigh out hops and grain so you only buy what you need, down to the gram. If you can avoid postage, that's a great way to do it.

Set up an account on their website then you can build custom recipes. It saves them and you can just drop them in your shopping basket. It's a great service .

 

[Beer Barron]

That's just what I was looking for. Great result as I hadn't seen I could do that on the website

 

[NIGHTSKY BREWING]

You will be amazed at how quickly you get through a 25kg bag of pale malt. Or maybe that's just me!
Because of delivery charges what I do is make a list of what beers I want to brew and order a 25kg of pale malt plus all the speciality malts I'll need plus hops and yeast etc. Usually that all comes in under 1 delivery charge.
Obviously, because I've been brewing for a while I already have a load of stuff in stock so before ordering I do a stock take and work out what I need to order afterwards.
You inevitably end up with loads of part used bags of hops - take them into account of what brews you plan, or just use them up by substituting them into recipes. This can be quite interesting.
Just remember, beer is just hops and malt in an infinite variety of combinations.

Actually, I'm at the moment in the middle of a brew - an IPA using my own-grown cascade hops. Needless to say I'm as pissed as a fart.

Hi , would love Cascade hop cutting next spring...?